Turkish government's despair in Syria's Idlib amidst US and Russia

"Turkey's capital was part of the plot from the very beginning, yet they did not act simply like a simple proxy state but acted to create a sphere of hegemony. Today it is very probable that they will have nothing left seven years after they had their share of this shame. They are looking for the ways of agreeing with the US imperialism due to the economic crisis, on the one hand, they do not want to lose their seats in Astana in order to have a voice in Syria on the other"

Erhan Nalçacı, the CC member of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and soL News columnist, wrote the following article on August 25, 2018, regarding the role of Turkey in Syria's Idlib province where jihadists are deployed, and the dilemma of the AKP government vis-à-vis Russia and the US considering that the Turkish government heartily backed the jihadist militants around Syria.

Towards the final act in Idlib and the despair of AKP

It is understood that a great trouble is to arise in Idlib towards the end of August.

After the Syrian army defeated the jihadists in the south in a surprising haste, it has headed for Idlib, Turkey's neighbouring city, carrying its troops with heavy weapons. The jihadists in the liberated zones have been allowed to transit to Idlib in recent years, particularly following Russia's direct participation in the war. Therefore, Idlib, which harbours around one hundred thousand of jihadist militants, reminds a purulent abscess; the physicians know that the patient could not be recovered without fully draining out the abscess. The Idlib operation has completely turned into an abscess operation for the Syrian government and its allies.

Idlib is particularly important.

Above all, the Syrian plot was launched in Idlib, most of the jihadists were infiltrated into Syria via Idlib and they took arms support. Idlib is economically and militarily strategic since it is located on a significant junction between Aleppo, Latakia and Damascus. They continue to attack from these points.

On the other hand, there will be almost no jihadist-controlled area in the case of the fall of Idlib. It seems that the Syrian war will largely end except for the zone under the US occupation.

The US, the UK and France have announced at this very moment that they will violently response if the Syrian army uses chemical weapons.

Indeed, they want to say the following:

"We, the three gangster states of the imperialist world, organized and ran the Syrian plot; we created a civil war by means of proxy states, we brought the jihadists here from all over the world, we fostered them. If Russia had not intervened, we would already have shared Syria in ruins.

As we do at critical times, we resort to the lie of chemical weapons again, no matter whether they swallow this lie. If Idlib falls, we will have no sphere of manoeuvre.

It appears as the high time to frame a scheme of chemical weapons so as to create a no-fly-zone in northern Syria."

Indeed, the US and its allies have conceded their defeat in Syria; and we will see whether they have made this statement just to raise challenges or whether they will take the risk of an early fight with Russia.

However, Turkey is in the gravest of situations!

Turkey's capital was part of the plot from the very beginning, yet they did not act simply like a simple proxy state but acted to create a sphere of hegemony. Today it is very probable that they will have nothing left seven years after they had their share of this shame. They are looking for the ways of agreeing with the US imperialism due to the economic crisis, on the one hand, they do not want to lose their seats in Astana in order to have a voice in Syria on the other.

They are still keeping some jihadists under control in Idlib although they appear to have largely lost the control. Some of the groups have confronted Turkey because of the Turkish government's flirt with Russia and Iran.

They are making agreements with Russia to overcome the economic crisis; the business has just reached the point of trading with national currencies, and yet there stands the problem of Idlib!

[Turkey's] foreign and defense ministers, the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) were all together in Moscow. [Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt] Çavuşoğlu indicated to the greatly developing friendship with Russia at a press conference, yet he began to talk like a ventriloquist when it came to Idlib. He said that "a military operation would be a disaster". Immigration to Turkey, civilians... He offers some other solutions. In other words, applying a pomade to the abscess!

The Justice and Development Party government is face to face with an absolute dilemma.

Where the process is going will be highly clear in a week. Let's carefully watch this aspect of the multi-dimensional crisis that Turkey's capitalist class faces.